What does the error "My SQL server has gone away" mean?

I get the most interesting of error messages. This is the newest one "my SQL server has gone away."

Why do I get this?

What's going on?

reply to post by Frankidealist35


I've been getting that a lot today too, especially if I leave a thread open for 3-4 minutes in a separate tab/window

MySQL is a database used by websites (like ATS). Some error cound show up when too many people are quering the database at the same time . My own server would allow 20 concurrent requests ,however ATS should be better. So I guess ATS will need to optimise some of the ATS code so the server is not dying under heavy traffic..or worst case they need a better server..

[edit on 1-10-2008 by sty]